You won’t believe what happens next!

Sensational headlines are the best. Let’s get your attention, tell you a story that pulls the heart strings, gets a laugh or annoys the heck out of you. I’ll limit sensational headlines as they drive me up a tree, deposit me on the a weak branch, and…

Fly!

So here I am writing another blog on adding character to our quilts, and come up with a brilliant idea for the Lucy’s Nickles group.

This isn’t it. I’ll circle back around.

When I started exploring machine quilting and color. On her blog Linda Poole shares these great color fixes. Some of them would start my brain thinking about how I could stitch that out. With Linda’s encouragement I started making these inspired by pieces as a way of practicing machine quilting, developing color confidence, and having fun. Oh I did have “Bang Head Here” moments along the way, that’s part of the fun of learning. These pieces are like ten inch squares giving me lots of space to experiment with thread, color, and batting all without feeling like I was screwing up a quilt with meaning.

The little quilt above has lots of character, all over the place.

Back to the quilt at the top of the page, would it surprise you that it’s not finished, and in all likelihood, gone? Sometimes these pieces teach me something, then I move on rather satisfied. Sometimes they’re not the right color/s. Sometimes I’m not invested in their existence and poof! they disappear.

Letting go of work that no longer speaks to my heart or holds interest is wildly freeing. I’m not bound by any sense of having to finish a quilt once its started. This leaves me free to explore, create, and finish the projects that make the most sense to me. I have a goal to finish three or four new pieces by October and the Dutchess Heritage Quilt Show comes around.